Monday, April 26, 2010

People Aren't Stupid

Okay, actually they are, but not in the "paint chip eating" way that game developers seem to think. After playing the demo of the new Splinter Cell, I have to wonder, what kind of morons do they take us for. Do we really need a giant red indicator covering half the screen to explain that I'm detected. Maybe the bullets flying past my head are a hint. Not to mention the stupid silhouette of your last known location. Why did the guards all go over there? Oh right, cause they just saw me there.

It all stems from this drive to capture the elusive casual audience. The idea that games are too complex or difficult for these simple minded individuals. Bollocks! Sure games can be intimidating for someone who hasn't grown up with a controller in their hand. But half the time it's all this extra crap on the screen that makes a game seem 10 times more complicated than it is; and it can take you completely out of the experience.

Don't pander to this ridicules notion, that games must be simple and heavy handed to appeal to a wide audience. It doesn't matter how complex a game is, everyone will want to play it as long as it's fun.

2 comments:

  1. Hey remember when they put a blue glow around the puck in hockey and a red glow when it was being shot.

    They said that the reason Hockey wasn't popular in America was because the average person couldn't follow or see the puck.

    I don't understand football, I would like a little man down in the corner constantly talking over the game explaining exactly what it was I just saw.

    Honestly I thought it was a way for closet homos to runaround and grab each other.

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  2. Who really understands football anyway. All the Xs and Os, and squiggly little arrows.

    And yet it's the #1 sport in America. Why? Cause it's fun to drink beer and gamble!

    (Especially on Sundays)

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